Celebrities, fans, and television crews descended on Inspire Luton Sports Village for a new live diving show in the Olympic-sized pool on Saturday.
The show, starring Olympic diver Tom Daley, attracted 5.6 million viewers – a quarter of the audience share, despite being mocked on Twitter.
Members whose swimming lessons were disrupted by the closure of the competition pool from Friday - Sunday were dealt further blows when they struggled to get tickets to the show, and when TV crew vehicles parked in disabled parking bays.
Luton mum Karen Preston said: “My 11-year-old son is an avid diving and swimming fan. I thought it would be a good idea to apply for tickets to see the new programme Splash being filmed at Inspire. Unfortunately, tickets are only available to those aged over 16. How ridiculous. No doubt this is another way for the Council to make money but not include those who would benefit most, local children. Could they not have allocated some of the evenings to children under 16?”
An Active Luton spokesperson said the ticketing policy is ITV’s and was reduced from the usual over 18s to over 16s at the council’s request.
Council leader Hazel Simmons said the show would mean “unprecedented positive publicity for Luton”, and it was mentioned in the first few minutes of the show and in the end credits.
For the full story see the Luton News on Wednesday.
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